2026 Fantasy Baseball Top 300: Yordan Alvarez takes top spot, Kyle Schwarber jumps to 11th

Here's our rest-of-season Top 300. Expect this space to be updated every Monday. Players are ranked for 5x5 mixed leagues using a one-catcher format. I include the mixed-league disclaimer because I do reward upside, particularly past the top 200 or so.

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2026 Fantasy Baseball Top 300 overall ranks

**Updated June 15**

June 15 Notes

- Falling off: Vinnie Pasquantino (119th), Spencer Strider (153rd), Adolis García (200th), Evan Carter (227th), Kris Bubic (246th), Ryan Waldschmidt (269th), Taj Bradley (270th), Mark Veintos (273rd), Randy Vásquez (287th), Tatsuya Imai (288th), Anthony Volpe (296th), Keaton Winn (298th), Jacob Gonzalez (300th)

- Bobby Witt Jr. returns to the top spot this week after being dropped to third because of some uncertainty about his knee last Monday. With injuries still wreaking havoc, Cristopher Sánchez has jumped into the top 10 for first time, while Elly De La Cruz moves back up to 10th as he makes his way back from a hamstring injury.

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- Austin Riley opened the year 34th on the list. I'm placing him 53rd now, which I'm sure most believe is still overly optimistic. His strikeout rate, which was 24.6 percent from 2020-24, is 28.4 percent now after coming in at 28.6 percent last year. His exit velocity numbers are down some, too, though his bat speed has held up just fine. That his barrel and hard-hit rates held up so well even as his numbers declined in 2024 and '25 was the biggest reason I hadn't soured on him coming into this year. Right now, though, his barrel rate is at 10 percent and his hard-hit rate is at 44 percent, compared to 15 percent and 50 percent last year, and he's again underachieving versus his Statcast numbers, with a .348 SLG versus a .387 xSLG. Since the beginning of 2024, he has a .422 SLG and a .472 xSLG. He's still pulling flyballs at a decent clip. He really ought to be better than this, even if his ceiling has gotten lower. It just feels like that even if he's not going to help in batting average any longer, someone with 90th-percentile bat speed and his skills has to go on a homer binge at some point.

- I'll trust José Ramírez's powers of recovery and keep him in the top 100 in spite of the broken hamate bone he suffered Saturday. Hitting .239/.339/.418, Ramírez was in the midst of his worst offensive season since 2015, but it seemed like there was quite a bit of bad luck involved. Ramírez has an incredible history of overperforming his Statcast numbers, but that wasn't the case this year. He actually had a career-high 43.4 percent hard-hit rate at the time of the injury. His .355 xwOBA was his best mark since 2023 and above his career average of .347.

- I never felt the need to put Brayan Rocchio on the list in spite of his fine performance as the Guardians' No. 9 hitter. However, since it looks like he'll be batting higher in Ramírez's absence (he hit second against a lefty on Sunday), he makes the cut at No. 282 this week.

- Cardinals callup Blaze Jordan is this week's high debut at No. 217. That he showed improved power and collected 31 extra-base hits in 57 games while still maintaining at 11.5 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A was encouraging. I'm not sure he'll prove playable at third, but the bat seems major league quality, even though he hits too many groundballs.

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- Six homers in 23 major league games for Colt Emerson is quite impressive, but it's pretty amusing just how little Statcast thinks of his start. He's currently batting .237 and slugging .566, but Statcast gives him a .159 xBA and a .271 xSLG. He has just three barrels and more hits (18) than hard-hit balls (15) so far. He's also not doing any running, so I'm continuing to leave him off the list for now.

June 8 Notes

- Falling off: Eury Pérez (134th), Jeff Hoffman (198th), Ramón Laureano (216th), Jorge Soler (219th), Joey Cantillo (227th), Lucas Erceg (245th), Jorge Polanco (252nd), Jameson Taillon (269th), Austin Martin (277th), Corbin Burnes (280th), Zack Gelof (281st), Lawrence Butler (288th), Antonio Senzatela (294th), Giancarlo Stanton (295th), Steven Matz (296th), Liam Hicks (298th), Cade Cavalli (299th), Griffin Jax (300th)

- Pérez was initially going to stick at the bottom of the list, but there was just too much competition for spots this week. Also in the mix were Cavalli, Emilio Pagán, Michael Soroka, Ezequiel Duran, Dominic Smith, Colton Cowser and Luis Castillo. Jac Caglianone, who has been in the 280-320 range all year, would have been on the list if not for his (hopefully minor) shoulder issue.

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- Aaron Judge's fractured rib has created a shakeup at the top this week. Bobby Witt Jr. would be the new No. 1, but we still need to know about the sore knee that took him out of Sunday's game. So, he's third for now. With Elly De La Cruz also temporarily exiting due to injury, Yordan Alvarez and Nick Kurtz are in the top 10 for the first time. Tarik Skubal is also back up to eighth as he prepares for his return this weekend from surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. I have Judge at No. 141 for now. If it were a more traditional injury and he was likely to make it back around Aug. 1, he'd be somewhere in the 70-80 range. But it looks like it'll be 4-6 weeks before we know whether that's realistic.

- Spencer Jones is getting a little look in right field with Judge out, but since Jasson Domínguez could overtake him next week, he didn't make the cut. Domínguez will probably join the rankings next week, assuming that he continues to make steady progress from his sprained shoulder.

- I was quite optimistic about Ben Rice coming into the season, but I might not have been had I known his strikeout rate was going to climb by 25 percent and that his bat speed would experience a moderate decline. It's pretty incredible that he's been one of baseball's top three hitters anyway. Statcast thinks he's been the same player this year as last:

2025: .255 average, .499 slugging, .283 xBA, .557 xSLG
2026: .299 average, .640 slugging, .284 xBA, .540 xSLG

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Anyway, that's why I've been hesitant to push Rice into the top 25 or 30 this season. Last year, he hit 75 mph on 34.5 percent of his swings. This year, it's 20.3 percent. Without elite exit velocity numbers, it's just not at all likely that he'll keep on getting homers on 30 percent of the flyballs he hits. I figure he'll remain very good, but I don't think he's going to finish up as an MVP contender.